This invention relates generally to improvements in automatic pool cleaners and related accessories therefor, wherein the pool cleaner is designed for travel within a swimming pool or the like to dislodge and collect debris. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved support clasp for supporting a pool cleaner filter bag from a supply hose or the like connected to a pool cleaner. The support or hose clasp retains the filter bag in a generally upright orientation, and thereby prevents the bag from draping downwardly over and about the pool cleaner where it can otherwise become entangled in the cleaner wheels and/or scrape against pool surfaces.
Automatic swimming pool cleaners are generally well known in the art for use in maintaining a swimming pool in an overall state of cleanliness. In this regard, residential and commercial swimming pools normally include a standard water filtration system including a main circulation pump and related main filter unit for filtering the pool water. The filtration system is typically operated for several hours on a daily basis to draw water from the pool for flow through the main filter unit and subsequent return circulation to the pool, wherein the filter unit includes an appropriate filter media for collecting and thus removing solid debris such as fine grit and silt, twigs, leaves, insects, and other particulate matter suspended within the pool water. Although such filtration systems function efficiently to collect suspended particulate, it has been recognized that some particulate tends to settle onto submerged pool floor and wall surfaces and thus is not removed by the standard filtration system. Automatic swimming pool cleaners have been developed and are widely used to assist in a more thorough cleaning of the pool by directly collecting such settled matter, and/or by re-suspending the settled matter so that it can be collected by the main filter unit.
More specifically, in one common form, the automatic swimming pool cleaner comprises a relatively compact wheeled housing adapted to travel randomly over submerged floor and wall surfaces of the pool. The cleaner is normally connected by a water supply hose or the like to the standard filtration system, such as by connection to the positive pressure discharge side of the system as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,863,425; 4,558,479; 4,589,986; and 3,822,754, and copending U.S. Ser. No. 10/397,939. The filtration system provides a water flow through the supply hose to the cleaner, wherein this water flow is typically used to create or induce an upwardly directed suction flow through a suction mast for vacuuming grit and debris through the suction mast into a porous mesh filter bag mounted on an upper or downstream end thereof. The water flow through the pool cleaner may also be used to power an hydraulic drive means which causes the cleaner to travel about within the swimming pool.
The filter bag is designed for periodic removal from the pool cleaner suction mast so that collected debris accumulated therein can be discarded. In some filter bag designs, the debris is emptied from the bag which is then re-mounted onto the pool cleaner. In other filter bags, the filter bag is formed from a porous material designed for disposal with the collected debris after a single use cycle, whereupon a replacement filter bag is mounted onto the pool cleaner for resumed cleaner operation. Exemplary filter bags and related techniques for removable mounting onto the pool cleaner suction mast are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,618,420; D288,373; 4,575,423; D294,963; 4,589,986; 5,863,425; D409,341; D468,067; and 6,241,899; and in copending U.S. Ser. No. 10/400,118, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,233.
During normal operation of the pool cleaner, the upward flow of water and entrained debris through the suction mast passes upwardly into an open mouth of the filter bag. This upward flow of water has a sufficient flow rate to provide an hydraulic column which effectively orients and maintains the filter bag in a generally upright configuration at an upper side of the pool cleaner. The water column passes upwardly through the porous bag material for recirculation to the pool, whereas water-entrained particulate is captured and retained within the filter bag. In this upright orientation, the filter bag is spaced from external moving parts of the pool cleaner, such as traction drive wheels, whereby there is minimal risk of the filter bag becoming caught or entangled in such moving parts. In addition, the filter bag is spaced from adjoining pool surfaces of plaster and the like, whereby there is minimal risk of the bag scraping and wearing against such surfaces. However, when the pool cleaner is turned off, or the upward water column through the filter bag is otherwise interrupted, e.g., during a periodic back-up maneuver, the filter bag can drape downwardly over the pool cleaner to become entangled within the cleaner wheels, or to scrape against submerged pool surfaces. The likelihood of the filter bag falling downwardly over the pool cleaner increases with the mass of accumulated debris collected therein.
In the past, filter bags have often included means for removably supporting an upper end of the bag from the supply hose to prevent the bag from falling and draping downwardly over the pool cleaner. Such removable support means have included, e.g., Velcro-type straps designed to wrap about the supply hose, or alternately to connect with a part-circle or C-shaped clip that is slidably mounted onto the supply hose, while accommodating relatively quick and easy removal when the filter bag is removed from the pool cleaner for disposal of accumulated debris. In these designs, however, component wear in combination with prolonged exposure to water, sun and chemicals in a swimming pool environment can result in inadvertent separation of the filter bag from the supply hose particularly in response to increased weight attributable to collected debris. In addition, such removable support devices are often removed with the filter bag each time the bag is removed to discard the debris accumulated therein, whereby the removable support device is sometimes misplaced or inadvertently thrown away with the discarded debris.
There exists, therefore, a need for further improvements in and to filter bags for pool cleaners and related accessories for use therewith, particularly for removably supporting an upper end of the filter bag from a pool cleaner supply hose or the like, yet permitting quick and easy removal of the filter bag for disposal of collected debris. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.